Evangelism: The Other Side of the Coin
David Monreal, Lead Pastor
| In last week’s newsletter I addressed the issue of evangelism. In just a few weeks the church will be hosting a “Share Your Faith” event on Saturday, March 27, 2021 from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM with registration starting at 8:30 AM. If you haven’t signed up yet I encourage you to do so soon so we have enough material and are prepared for you to join us. In this article I want to discuss something directly related to evangelism and that is discipleship. In reality, evangelism and discipleship are two sides of the same coin. In evangelism you are sharing the gospel to help lead someone to personal faith in Christ and in discipleship you are sharing the gospel to help someone grow up in their faith in Christ. In a sense, where one ends the other should begin. Notice I said, should begin. Unfortunately, discipleship does not always follow on the heels of leading someone to Christ. I attended a church camp that was promoted by the local Christian radio station and on June 29, 1983 I placed my personal faith in Christ alone for eternal life. Well, what happened after that? Nothing! There was absolutely no follow-up and no help for me to find a church. At 14-years-old I was the first person in my family to accept Christ and I was a spiritual orphan, abandoned at birth! God stirred my heart to attend the following summer and it was only then that adults from the camp came alongside me to help me find a church. When a person places his or her faith in Christ, that one become “born again” and has received spiritual life. But much like a newborn, the person needs to be cared for and nurtured to help him grow up in his faith. That is what discipleship is. My personal conviction is that if I lead someone to Christ, I have a personal obligation to that person to either begin discipling him in the faith myself or to find someone who will “adopt” him and begin to help him grow. Discipleship is born out of relationship more than it is a program. It means getting involved in another person’s life which can be messy, time consuming, and emotionally expensive. But there is no greater joy than to see someone come to Christ and be built up in the faith! Sometimes discipleship turns into more than just spiritual assistance and becomes a mentoring relationship. This generation of Millennials and Generation Z students often need more than just spiritual guidance but need to be taught how to think and respond “Christianly.” They have been raised in a completely secular environment where ethics is private and situational, and reality is whatever they decide it is. I have noticed that more and more often I am doing “discipleship” prior to evangelism and conversion! By that I mean, I am teaching non-Christians the basics of the faith and the redemption story, so the gospel resonates and makes sense to them. Years ago, I was in a conversation with a New Tribes missionary, and he told me that in many countries they don’t start with the cross but with creation! When I asked him why he told me that they have no framework in which to understand the message of the cross because every concept is foreign to them being in a completely non-Christian environment. Of course, God can do anything but humanly speaking it makes sense. Today I find many non-Christians do not have even the most basic understanding of the Bible or the message of Christianity. Often, I find myself taking weeks or months (occasionally years) to help people understand the foundations of Christianity so that the seed of the gospel finds prepared soil. You may find yourself doing discipleship before evangelism AND after evangelism! But with every person our goal is to meet him where he is at and bring him to the foot of the cross then help him to grow in his newfound faith. Click below to register today! |
https://store.evangelismexplosion.org/p-1981-share-your-faith-at-carlisle-alliance-church.aspx
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